Here goes the third chapter. With thanks to CaLiGer for giving me insight in imperial subjects:

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Chapter 3

It took the crew a few hours longer than expected to translate the salvaged star-charts, but now at least they’d have a tool to work with. Verification with visible constellations wasn’t really difficult once the map was readable. It seems that the ship jumped in a well-traveled area, a place called the Fire Fall, whatever that may be. The system they were currently in was nothing but a relay identified by a series of numbers, Relay 571, nothing significant. What was significant was the huge amount of space this Imperium Hominis seemed to have. The Twelve Colonies were just a speck on this map by scale! At least now they knew the Imperium was vast and very powerful. Now it was up to him to figure out the next step. What now? The answer to that question would come sooner than he thought…

“CONN-DRADIS, I’ve got a bogey bearing 305 carum 04.”“Identify”“Unknown contact sir, whatever it is, that sucker is HUGE! The power signature is off the charts.” “Keep me informed, XO thoughts?”“Observation reports a similar configuration as we’ve seen in this system. The charts verify it. Big engines in the rear, long and narrow body, rear wings, wedge prow. They’re probably Imperials.”“Mark this contact as Cathedral one, and edge us closer to the edge of the debris field. Start making calculations for an emergency jump. If this guy decides to shoot we can’t trade blows with him.”

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In the meantime aboard the Imperial vessel, Admiral Julius Lahain aboard his battleship was trying to get his crew back in order. While en route back to Port Maw his ship was attacked by Chaos forces, and now he had lost his escorts. They were destroyed one by one by the red menace, which left him alone and on the run. His navigator managed to pull the immense battleship into the warp in time. For about a week, or so it seemed, they had traveled through the illogical immaterium to reach Relay 571. The last stop before the next jump to friendly lines.

With a big jolt, and at the same time a soothing transition the SkyWatcher left the immaterium and entered Realspace on the edge of Relay system 571, a safe distance away from the debris field orbiting the white dwarf. His old mentor talked about the big battle waged here two centuries ago. Now all that was left of the glorious ships who defended the Imperium were chunks of debris, such a shame.

The time spent in the Warp enabled the Enginseer crew of the SkyWatcher to conduct some repairs, but they were still vulnerable.“Shipmaster, what is the status of our repairs?”“Admiral, our lance batteries are operational, our macro-broadsides still have problems with the resupply gear, a large portion of our point defence guns is still offline and we have around two-thirds of our carrier-craft left operational. The rest either destroyed or damaged beyond repair.”“That was to be expected. What is the status of our engines?”“Plasma-engine three and six have sustained damage, but are for the most part operational. If they deteriorate we may have to shut them down to prevent a meltdown.”“That will cost us a third of our power! The cog-heads in Port Maw are gonna love this.”

Suddenly the young lieutenant observing the Augur Array called out:“Admiral, new rifts are opening! They are Chaos ships, six of them on an intercept course!”“Bring the ship to alert status!” He ordered while grabbing the ships vox. “All hands to Battlestations!”Before long the entire bridge was sounding with orders: “Secure all hatches and bulkheads, all gun crews to their pieces, Engineering: charge the lance capacitors, standby damage control teams.”“Lieutenant, can you identify the classes?” Lahain asked while the young lieutenant franticly tried to keep a clear picture with the damaged systems he had.“One Hellbringer light cruiser, two Idolators, and three infidels.”“Very well, focus your efforts on the closest ship. Lets try to thin their numbers before they get to close. Bring the ship about! We’ll give them the best broadside we have left!”“Admiral” his Number two called ”We can’t keep those ships at bay forever”“I know Damnit, but we sure as hell are gonna do it or die trying, now open fire!”

The massive ship began to launch its strike craft while the space-superiority fighters raced out the hangar bays to take up defensive position while the ship's massive lance batteries reached out and blasted at the incoming chaos ships. At about the same time the chaos fleet assumed a solid attack formation, the Idolators opening up with their prow lances, the infidels blasting away with their weapons batteries and launching torpedoes while the Hellbringer launched her attack-craft and fired her main guns.

“Emperor help us now…” The admiral said to himself.

“Admiral, New contact coming out of the debris field!”Lahian turned around sharply to face the Augur console: “What, more Chaos usurpers?”“I don’t know sir” the young man called, “I’ve never seen this configuration before, the Cogitators don’t recognize its silhouette either. We’re receiving a signal from them!”“Show me!”

Battlestar Invictus to Imperial Vessel:Do not, Repeat, Do not fire on us!We intend to aid in fending off the red Dagger ships.Please acknowledge on same frequency.

++++Message ends++++++++Transmission ended++++

It took him a few seconds to realize what he was reading. An unknown vessel just popping up here and claiming to help them… This was almost too good to be true. But then again, with the state his vessel was in currently… He didn’t really have a choice. It was either risk losing the ship by taking an unknown in his ranks, or risking it alone with even lower odds.

“Get a passive weapons lock on that ship, if it tries anything we’ll blow it to dust!” He barked at his staff before turning to his comms-officer: “Connect the transla-cogitator with the vox and hail that vessel, lets see what their claims are worth.”

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It was barely thirty seconds after he had sent the message that the commander of the Invicus was alerted by his Comms-specialist. “Sir, the imperial ship is answering. The captain demands to speak with you.”“Put him on the horn. This is Invictus Actual, go ahead Imperial vessel.” Price called out in his horn.A stern mechanical voice sounded from the other side: ”This is admiral Lahain of the Battleship SkyWatcher, I don’t know how you got into our space and for the moment I don’t care. You claim to help us correct?”“Indeed Admiral. Let us close formation and take some of this fire away from you.”“Do as you must, but try anything funny and we’ll blow you to dust like the others!”“Understood SkyWatcher. You take the big boys, we’ll take the smaller ones.” With these words he hang up the phone.“Friendly fellow” Howard remarked.“We’d give a similar answer in his shoes. XO bring the ship about. Let’s see what our bow batteries can do to the hull of those standoff ships. Load the Super-density shells!”

Gracefully the lumbering Battlestar turned his bow toward the closest Idolator Lance escort and began blasting both dorsal cannons and fixed bow cannons. The massive super-density shells erupted silently from their barrels and whistled toward their targets with enormous speed. At the same time the first eighty fighters shot out of their launch tubes and took defensive positions around the Battlestar, soon to be followed by their comrades being loaded into the now empty tubes.

It took a few seconds for the first shells to reach their target, before impacting the energy barrier surrounding the little ship. This was soon followed by a double lance blast originating from the SkyWatcher which put severe stress on the corrupted Void Shield generator. Regardless of the punishment the Idolator took, it kept firing on the huge Imperial vessel.Together with the combined barrage of its sister ships, the chaos vessels started to put a serious strain on the SkyWatcher.

Inside the massive ship, gun crews were scrambling around their stations trying to reload their cannons and aiming their massive, ancient pieces. Enginseers and their work gangs worked with fanatic zeal to try and keep the capacitors for the all-powerful lance batteries full, while at the same time preventing key systems from overloading. Higher up the chain officers were directing crewmembers, issuing orders and inspiring the men that served below them. Meanwhile on the command deck the admiral and his staff had their hands full directing the battle. Watching from his pict-screen on his command-throne Admiral LaHain watched with near amazement at the ferocity and the sheer volume of fire that the little so-called battlestar spewed out at the closest Idolator. He did not expect this from an Non-Imperial ship that size and which such a low power signature.“Master-Gunner, the Invictus is in perfect position to blow holes into Idolator two. Give him a hand with those shields, will you? Let’s see what the little bugger can do.”“As you wish Admiral” the experienced officer called: “Redirect battery two and four to bearing 034, elevation 013. Shield dispersion fire, Execute!”The moment the Master-Gunner gave the word, two massive six-barreled turrets rotated to the given direction and unleashed a massive amount of energy at the Idolators shields, finally breaking them.

====

“Commander, the energy signature is gone. The barrier seems to have disappeared!” the young sensor operator cried out. “Okay gentlemen, this is our chance. Weapons, switch to full AP loads! XO, instruct strike-vipers to launch their anti-ship missiles at the largest energy signatures they can find on that ship. Helm, bring us underneath, give them the full dorsal broadside!”As soon as Commander Price gave the word the orders were carried out with skill and determination. Huge solid shells began filling the space between the two clashing ships, moments before impacting the weak armor of the red menace.Strike-vipers of Invictus launched their armor piercing Anti-Ship missiles at any significant energy signature they could find. The missiles exploded within, wreaking havoc at weapons, breaching plasma-lines, damaging engines and disrupting communication lines throughout the ship.A final salvo from Invictus in the rear section disabled the stricken frigate, rendering it stearless, burning. The first ship out of the fight.The chaos ships, before now not seeing Invictus as a real threat, began seriously returning fire. Two Infidel raiders broke off their attack runs on the SkyWatcher and began turning towards the Invictus and his prey.

“XO, they’ve realized we mean business. We need to combine our batteries with the Imperials, and start aiding them with repelling small craft as well. There isn’t much flak coming from that big hulk. Bring us underneath that ship and extend our FLAK barrier around her.”“Roger that sir. Sir, our strike-vipers have called Winchester. They need to land and re-arm”“Very well, recall the strikers. Launch the reserve strikers while the others re-arm. And prepare viper group three and four, the others will be out of ammo soon.”

The two incoming raiders set up in a staggered formation and commenced a head-on pass with Invictus. Invictus turned with them and helped close the distance, at the same time closing in with SkyWatcher.“Radiological alarm!” suddenly sounded in the CIC, “the raiders have launched five, say again, Five nuclear missiles at us commander!”“Fighters, Intercept and disperse, Flak barrier to full auto, pitch negative thirty and all ahead flank! Take her down! Now! Now! Now!”Immediately the few closest fighters scrambled to take out the big missiles headed towards their mothership. At the same time the Flak barrier of Invictus densed up immediately. Both fighters and Flak managed to take out four missiles before they could hit. But the fifth did slip through…

A massive explosion blinded everyone looking in the general direction of Invictus. Everyone inside the ship was thrown to the ground. For the second time in this area, commander Price was thrown on top of his plotting table.The damage seemed mild at first, radiation remained within norms. Most of the energy was directed outwards as the missile exploded on impact, while the thick Battlestar Armor kept most of the hard stuff out. But soon, more damage would become clear.

“Viper 61 – Invictus, come in. You’ve got violent decompressions all along the port flight pod. Invictus do you read?” Came through the radio.On the forward section of the port Flight Pod a fire was raging while violently spreading along the pod. On the damage-control stations red lights began blinking, indicating the fires. XO Howard had to take charge of this damage control party from the CIC.“Port section, Report” he called through his horn. He was answered by a frightened greenhorn of a crewman. “The officers are dead, sir! Fires are everywhere and the suppression system is out! Sir we need help!”No suppression system, Frack! Without that system they couldn’t get the fire out in time. If the fires reached the hangars it would ignite the fuel lines and they would lose the ship! Only one option left…“Crewman, get in your emergency gear” he said before switching to shipwide intercom: “Attention all hands, seal off all sections front of bulkhead 25. Prepare for emergency vent action.”He put the horn down and inserted the vent-key in the hole and initiated the vent.In all the sections with, and close to the fire, huge armored vents rotated opened and let all the air inside escape, extinguishing the fire. The few crew members not braced for vent action were sucked away into the void. Seconds after vent completion the red blinkers stopped and switched off. Another danger overcome…

All the while this was taking place, the Battlestar had slid underneath the two red raiders. Any gun capable of shooting did what it could to pepper the crimson hulls of its opponents. The infidel raiders did the same thing. As soon as they could, red laser blasts began raking the ship. From stem to stern, every part of the three kilometer long ship was hit by any degree. By the time both Infidels passed Invictus, they had already inflicted heavy damage to one of its engines, rendering it inoperable. The lead Infidel had to pay this price with a direct hit to his port batteries, causing a violent explosion within the red ship itself.

While the battle between the three ships waged, the remaining four chaos vessels continued to pound the SkyWatcher, which was now threatened with strike craft coming from the distant hellbringer. Seeing the intent of the battlestar commander, Admiral Lahain ordered his ship to take position slightly above his newfound ally, seeking to increase the effectiveness of both ships flak-barriers while at the same time taking on the enemy cruiser. Fightercraft from both ships danced around the massive hulks while intercepting ordonnance and enemy strike craft, as well as taking on enemy fighters.Through this cloud of activity came blasts of macro cannon and Lance fire from both factions, all trying to blast the other into oblivion.Just after taking out the second Idolator, Skywatcher turned her batteries toward the carrier Hellbringer, and started blasting away. The void-shields of the red ship couldn’t take the fire long, and soon its shields began to collapse. The now vulnerable cruiser started backing away, seeking quarter as to recharge her shields. SkyWatcher was too slow to follow. She gave the fleeing cruiser a few parting shots before seeking another target.

The battle waged on for about 45 minutes before the chaos ships retreated back into the warp. SkyWatcher had lost what was left of engine three and six, together with a third of her original speed. Her main batteries did sustain a few hits, but nothing critical. Her strike fleet however was reduced to about half her strength. That would pose a problem should they be attacked again….

======

In this fight, helping that imperial vessel, the Invictus had taken a lot of hits. Most of the hard stuff had been kept out by her armor, but still she had lost an engine. Two main turrets were damaged and had to be retracted manually. Multiple space-craft were lost or damaged. How extensive the damage was would become clear when they put into dry-dock somewhere. How many crew had sustained wounds was not yet clear. Price hoped that at the very least the complete casualty list would come in soon, and that it be short. The Imperial emperor in his flying cathedral better be grateful for this! At least the ship's FTL drive was still online.

A little while after the battle had ended, the commanding officers of both ships were again on the horn:“This is Admiral Julius Nephos Lahain aboard the SkyWatcher, calling the commanding officer of the Invictus, come in Invictus.” The line on the other side began to crack to life:“Go head Admiral, I read you loud and clear.”“You and your ship have fought valiantly Commander, and I am grateful for your coming to our aid. I still don’t know what you are doing in our sector, but that can come later. The Imperial Navy could sure use a ship like yours in our fleet against the Chaos Menace. What say you?”“We’ve been attacked by them the moment we arrived here. We sure could use an ally.”“If you are interested in becoming our ally, you could escort my ship back to Port Maw. I am sure that after the service you’ve done for us the PortMaster will provide for your ships repair, should you’ve sustained any damage.”“We sure would appreciate that Admiral”“Very well. I will have my crew send you the coordinates, please verify on the same channel.”“Understood, Looking forward to meeting you in person.”"Likewise Commander. LaHain out." And with those words the connection was broken.When he looked up, Price caught the eye of his XO.“Do you think we’ve got the right man, John?”“I don’t know Mark, I just hope we do. It will be one heck of a short war for us if we don’t.”

On the imperial battleship, Admiral Lahain sat back in his command-throne and let his crew do their work while he started to wonder.After a few short moments, his trusted second-in-command, Bracco Gambell, walked up to him.“Thinking of the new escort, sir?”“There is potential in this encounter, Bracco. The commander seems to know how to use his ship, even against an unknown adversary. But why help a stranger? Why is he here? Is he genuine and requires an ally, if so, against whom… Or are there other motivations in play? Whatever the answers to these questions may be, the addition of this small but surprisingly powerful carrier may prove very useful in coming battles. If this is to be however, steps may have to be taken to increase its damage resistance.”“I guess we’ll find out once we reach Port Maw.”“Indeed we will.”

Excellent story thus far. However, no Imperial Navy battleship (or any vessel, probably) would have a name like "SkyWatcher." That sounds like something you'd more likely see for a Tau or Eldar vessel (translated into Gothic, that is). Most imperial vessels, especially the larger ones, tend to have loftier or religious-sounding names like His WillDivine RightShield of Schindlegeist, Unforgiving Truth etc. The slaves of the False Emperor do love to give their lumbering vessels monstrously overwrought names

It's your story, and you should continue it as you see fit. Nonetheless, seeing an Imperial Navy vessel with a name like that is a little immersion-breaking.

Honsou wrote:Excellent story thus far. However, no Imperial Navy battleship (or any vessel, probably) would have a name like "SkyWatcher." That sounds like something you'd more likely see for a Tau or Eldar vessel (translated into Gothic, that is). Most imperial vessels, especially the larger ones, tend to have loftier or religious-sounding names like His WillDivine RightShield of Schindlegeist, Unforgiving Truth etc. The slaves of the False Emperor do love to give their lumbering vessels monstrously overwrought names

It's your story, and you should continue it as you see fit. Nonetheless, seeing an Imperial Navy vessel with a name like that is a little immersion-breaking.

It's actually a believable name, and it had better be since it's hand-picked from a name generator.There are Imperial ships with names like Brilliance, Valkyrie, Iron Duke and Excellent that also served with battlefleet Gothic. So it doesn't always have to be purely religious in feel. I made sure to weed out anything particularly glaring in the 40K lore from Ghost, and the name was not one of the things that stood out as wrong.

Where's your Federation now?-Imperial Navy

Alpha Tester - Getting the game on its feetTechnical Tester - We had to get the balance right somehowCommunity Moderator - Purging spammers and maintaining the realmBFG Wiki Founding Member

Hello fella's, I am glad to hear that some of you enjoy my little story.Here goes the fourth chapter. I hope you enjoy.

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Chapter 4

Traveling to Port Maw took just under a week of traveling. Both ships kept traveling in Convoy for security reasons, but because they were now well within Imperium controlled space, it wasn’t really necessary. Aside from a single skirmish with a possible lost red escort the journey itself wasn’t very eventful. With three days to go, the little group met up with a couple of frigates. It seemed that the SkyWatcher had sent word of their arrival. This group was some kind of Honor guard or something like that. It didn’t matter what it was called, the crew on board both ships were happy with two extra ships flying alongside them.

At last the small convoy entered the system on the outer edge. Slowly the group slid towards the massive spaceport, while the small escort ships broke off and took position on the systems outskirts.Docking in massive spaceport took a bit longer than usual. Not because it was harder, or busier than the battlestar crew was used to. This was done by choice. Most people were in awe of how big the spaceport was! The Scorpion spacedocks were big but this, this blew the other completely out of the water! Ships larger than anyone had ever seen were flying to and from the massive station, while smaller craft were buzzing about. Every now and again someone had to be snapped out of their awe. Partly because of this, Price had ordered the ship to basically crawl towards their spot, where they docked without issue.

In anticipation of the evaluation/inspection the ship was to be subject to, Price had ordered that no man was to leave the ship without his express permission. The evaluation was due this morning, so the crew got to work on repairing any damage they couldn’t fix when on mission. It was not clear when exactly when the inspection came, or with how many would be attending. Just to be on the safe side he had ordered all critical systems to be guarded by a small detachment of marines.

He himself had, like his officers in time of war, holstered his trusty Five-Seven pistol to his waist. Price didn’t expect trouble, but when dealing with an unknown, caution is golden. For this occasion he had dusted off his dress uniform. Dark gray, with a leather belt and sash, the latter carrying his Pilot’s Elite Wings and the few medals he was awarded. His uniform was lined with red and gold piping along the edges, signifying his rank. His XO Colonel Howard's piping was red and silver in colour.Fifteen minutes ago he got the call that the evaluation envoy was to arrive. Right on time there came the call on the other side.After double checking the docking seal and pressure, the large steel doors slid open. In the walkway, much wider than the invictus-airlock was, four men appeared flanked by a squad of soldiers. The imperial officers wore a bright blue uniform jacket while the trousers were white. Most men present were highly decorated. By comparison his own dress uniform looked pale and plain.The lead man, who seemed to be in good shape, although a bit of stress was giving him a few grey hairs, was the most decorated, but managed to display his achievements with style. The officer beside him, also decorated, displayed his medals plumply, while looking towards the colonials with arrogance. It was clear that sitting behind a desk didn’t do him much good.The third man, standing to the right was the least decorated, but only slightly. The fourth and final character standing at the door was dressed in a rust-coloured robe. He was the most peculiar of the set with all sorts of technology sticking out of him. Price could not help but wonder if he was looking at a man or a machine.After a few seconds the lead officer walked up to the threshold of the airlock but stopped just short. At the same moment, men on both sides saluted each other, the Imperials with the sign of the aquila and the colonials with their hand straight to the hairline.

Then the man spoke: “I am Lord-Admiral Cornelius von Ravensburg. I am in command of the Battlefleet in the Gothic Sector. You have already met Admiral Julius Lahain” He said while gesturing to the man standing on his right, who nodded slightly before adding: “We’ve met before commander, the battle of Relay 571. I thank you again for coming to the aid of me and my men.”Both men approached the threshold and shook hands.“It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Admiral.”

“Standing on my left are Admiral Kraego Caligarus” Ravensburg continued. The plump officer to his left looked a bit down, to raise his head again, ”and Fabricator Cambrios, he manages this Spacestation.” The mechanical man made a slight bow towards both colonials.“Gentlemen, I am Commander John Price, commander of the 92th BattleGroup and the Battlestar Invictus. Standing beside me is my second in command, Colonel Mark Howard” who nodded upon the mentioning of his name. I welcome you aboard my vessel. Before you enter however, I understand your need for a security team, but I must insist on them leaving their assault weapons behind.” he nodded at the bulky looking rifles the soldiers were carrying. “Enough accidents have happened when someone got jumpy. You may keep your sidearms.” The soldiers gave questioning looks to their superiors, but after an approving nod, they left behind their rifles with one of their comrades before stepping through the airlock.

The group moved down the Invictus’ corridors with Ravensburg and Price at the lead. “The reports provided by Admiral Lahain about the skirmish of Relay 571 were quite impressive. You could start with a rundown on your ship's capabilities, particularly your carrier and self defence capabilities.”“The Invictus is capable of launching 80 Viper space superiority fighters within seconds”“That sounds highly unlikely” said Admiral Caligarus“You will see for yourself momentarily Admiral. What I’ve seen so far is that your strike craft are fairly large. Ours are small by comparison, this allows us to quickly launch and recover our fighters. Loading the launch tubes takes only a couple of minutes. Once the fighters are in, it takes only a few seconds to launch them. The ship can carry about 600 vipers, including their strike variant and 45 raptor shuttles.”

Moments later the group moved through the bulkhead-hatch leading to the port hangar deck. The deck stretched for hundreds of meters, each set containing at least a dozen fighters ready to go. Modern grey painted Mk7 Vipers stood along their older red and white colored brethren, some positioned just before the launch-tube doors, while others stood in maintenance nests. Crews were working hard servicing and repairing the fighters from past battles and malfunctions, while pilots talked with their ground-crews. The vipers themselves are less than ten meters in length, while their strike variants were just over twelve meters long.

“These are your all powerful Vipers? These puny craft? Pathetic” the plump Admiral spewed.“They’re not so pathetic when over eighty of them are racing towards you, mate!” Flight Lieutenant Thatch said while tapping his Fighter “Each of these babies launching eight 50 megaton nukes at your face is a pretty scary sight don’t ya think?”The sole notion made Admiral Caligarus mad, but seeing the smiling face of the pilot who had the audacity to talk like that made him red in rage.Price could see Lahain making a half-attempt at suppressing a smile on his face. Ravensburg held a straight face, not letting it betray his thoughts.“It does sound impressive. Was that the armament used during the Relay battle?”“No mister Lahain, we used conventional warheads. We use nuclear warheads only when necessary.”“Still it is impressive considering their limited size.”

“Continue Commander” Ravensburg added“Our vipers are fast and highly manoeuvrable, able to turn on a dime and launch up to eight anti-fighter or anti-ship missiles. This includes Nuclear devices. Strike vipers carry up to 12 heavy missiles, intended to destroy or disable enemy subsystems. These ships are Nuclear missile capable, same as their fighter counterpart. We have 45 shuttlecraft able to carry marine strike teams.As far as defenses go, we rely mainly on fighters, Triple-A, FLAK and our armour should ECM fail.”“How capable is your defence battery?”“We can put up a FLAK screen thick enough to walk on. But it can’t take up everything.”“Seems reasonable. What can you tell us about your main batteries?”

“The ship possesses over 40 turrets with two 250CM Rail cannons each, capable of firing anti-ship AP/HE shells and FLAK. in the bow we have six High-Calibre Railcannons capable of firing superdensity shells to take out armor. Enough to take out those red escorts at the relay.”

“It is an impressive amount of firepower you can field for a ship this size. Which brings me to the following subject.” Ravensburg paused for a bit and took a very serious tone. “What brings a ship of this firepower here, in this sector? I do not recall any people of your faction being present here, Commander.”“That is a good question Mister Ravensburg. Sufficive to say, we were attacked by enemy forces, the Cylons.”“I have never heard of these Cylons.”“I am not surprised Admiral. The Cylons are machines, our own creations. A long time ago they became intelligent, they rebelled and a bloody war was fought, lasting for over a decade. An armistice was declared and the cylons retreated in deep space. We didn’t hear from them for over forty years. Until about a month ago… The Cylons broke the armistice and nuked our planets. They had infiltrated our defence networks and many of our ships, powering them down or turning them against us. We were lucky to survive. I had to risk a blind FTL jump or lose the ship. That is how we ended up in this sector. From the moment we entered this region of space we’ve been under attack by those red ships you call Chaos. Not knowing where we were or who was out there I decided to retreat into an uninhabited system for intel. That is where we met the SkyWatcher in battle. The rest is history.”“A wise decision, considering your position, but it doesn’t answer why you chose to aid Admiral Lahain in his battle.”“Listening to the chanting that our ‘welcoming committee’ gave us was maddening. No one should suffer their attacks.”“Admirable.” the Lord-Admiral remarked before turning to his peers, “Gentlemen, do you have anything to add?”Lahain was first to speak up: “No sir. There are still questions to be answered, but this will suffice for now. I think we now have a general idea of the Invictus and her capabilities.”“Agreed, Kraego, do you have anything to add?”“Though I still do not have much faith in the commander's claims, it is a carrier and we need them. No questions at this time.”

“I have a question to the Commander” The machine man spoke with a distorted voice.“Ever since I set foot on this vessel, I sensed something off. Now I realise I can’t sense the Machine Spirit of this vessel. Is something wrong with the ship's Spirit?”“Machine Spirit? I am afraid I don’t understand…”“All complex machines have a Machine Spirit one has to tend to, to keep the machine in working order.”

“This ship was designed to combat a foe which is far more advanced than us, outnumbers us and tries to use our ships and weapons against us. So we find our strength in simplicity and the lack of computer networks, for all the good it did us...”“The ship is dead?”“The ship was never alive Fabricator. Nor are our fighters”Price could hardly believe it but the Mechanical Man almost looked sad at the notion. He even made stuttering noises, like machine language in a serene way, as if he were mourning a dead friend.

The short silence was broken by Ravensburg. “I think we have what we need for now. We shall retire for the moment and find a suitable task for your ship. In the meantime Fabricator Cambrius shall aid you with any repairs should you require them. We may station a Liaison Officer here for observation and communication. Do you have any objections to these statements, commander?”After taking a quick glance to his XO Price agreed and lead the group back towards the airlock, which closed behind them.

“Did we go too hard on one of the admirals, Howard?”“No Sir! He deserved what he got! He was looking down on us from the start. I frankly enjoyed seeing him blow up more than he already was.”“In that case we’d have to give Thatch a raise don’t you think?”“We may have to” Howard answered as he started to grin. Both officers walked off to have one of their famous drinks in the Readyroom, just for the heck of it.

Hello folks,Here's a new chapter for you. I hope you enjoy.Thanks to Caliger for help and insight in the lore.

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Chapter 5

Walking through the halls of this space station was very much different from anything he had seen before. If anything this part of the station looked more like an ancient cathedral than a hall of a space station. Though this was one. Man and material were moving through many of the same halls, going about their business. Even skulls were flying around! If anything, these Imperial guys were a weird bunch. It took a few minutes for Price and his escort of soldiers to reach the planning chamber, which could be easier described as a church nave, where he would meet Ravensburg again for his briefing. And as expected, through the door he could see the authoritarian silhouette of the Lord-Admiral standing across the room.

“Morning Admiral” Price said as he salutedRavensburg answered his salute “Good morning Commander. Thankyou for coming over. How are the repairs to your ship coming?”“Your mechanicus boys are a weird bunch, a bit nervous jammering on about their machine spirit, but they do a good job. They’ve repaired that engine within eight days. If they keep this rate up, we should be ready to cast off by this time tomorrow.”“Good, because I have an important mission for you and your men.”Both men walked up to an electronic charting table. All known stars and planets, as well as fleets and forces were blinking at their respective positions. Most were stationary, but some were moving, and fast as well!Ravensburg pointed to one of the systems marked with strange markings.“We are here, Port Maw, our fleet HQ. This here..” his finger moved slightly upwards, “This is the Barbarus Costa system. This system is relatively close to us and a key point in our shipping lanes. Most ships going this direction have to move through or close to this area. Unfortunately for us, this is also home to at least a very powerful Pirate Fleet. To secure our trade routes, Admiral Mourndark and his fleet were dispatched to deal with the threat. Now however, he is in need of resupply in order to continue his offensive. Your orders are as follows: You are to meet your a small fleet of frigates at the edge of the system. There you will wait for the supply convoy to arrive, and you will escort them towards the rally point. When resupply is complete you are to engage in anti-pirate operations attached to Admiral Mourndark until instructed otherwise by me.”“Any word on threats out there? What to expect?”“I have decided to attach a Liaison officer to your crew. He will monitor your ship and crew during actions. In addition he will have a more detailed instructions and intel on enemy positions. He will arrive tomorrow, as well as a Flight-Sergeant to evaluate your spacecraft. Do you have any questions?”“I do, but as you said, more instructions are coming in the morning. Is Admiral Mourndark aware of my ship’s arrival?”“A message detailing your convoy, including your battlestar has been dispatched an hour ago.”“Good. Then I will await the arrival of your officers. Thankyou for your time Admiral.”“Good Hunting, Commander.”Both men shook hands before Price turned around and started on his way back.

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“Pirate raids… well they shouldn’t pose a huge threat. The problem is to find the buggers. They’re probably tucked away in some asteroid field.”“In our system, you would be right Howard, but remember that everything in this region is a lot bigger. And hunting pirates is not our task, escorting transports is. After that we’ll see.”“Indeed, what about that officer they’re supposed to send? Any clue on who he is?”“I’ve read his file. I reckon he’ll be keeping an eye on us.”“Making sure we behave? That can be a pain in the butt…”“Maybe, but it can also be an opportunity to get to know our allies. We’ll see who our guys are when they arrive.” Price barely spoke those words before the intercom started buzzing. ”Speaking of which. This is Price go ahead…. Papers check out?.... Good, send em up to CIC.” and he put down the horn.

Daemus Goradin, that was his name. Just another cog in the system, just another officer among thousands. He always worked hard, always did what was asked. But instead of a transfer to a line ship, he was now posted on some outsider warship! “You are the chosen one for the job!” they said, yeah right. Babysitting other unknown and probably unreliable officers, assessing and all of that crap. He wanted to lead! To show what he was made of! To show he was capable! Well, he just had to put up with it then. Maybe command would get wise and get him in a better position when he could file for transfer again.“Whelp, let's get this over with” and with those words lieutenant Goradin stood up, shouldered his duffel bag and started walking out of his cabin, closing the door behind him. Just some cabin he had to wait in for a week. Orders always did come slowly. Instead of taking the railcar, he turned to the docking arms and walked the way towards his new posting. Looking out onto the coming and going space vessels was always a calming sight to him. Seeing those glorious vessels gliding past was an awesome sight. After a few minutes of walking the catwalks, his destination came into view.Attached to Docking Bay Alpha-Centauri-12 was a most peculiar ship. The three kilometer long vessel did not wield an armored prow, barely any superstructure to mention. If anything the bow looked more like an Alligator head. The main hull was relatively slender, blending with the larger bow head in the front, and the large engine bay in the back. The hull was flanked by two large flight-pods At the stern there were eight huge engines mounted around the main hull. Each engine had about a quarter of the total length of the ship. Overall the ship looked well armored. He tried, but Goradin could not find many lights indicating viewports.

After a little while he arrived at the docking bay, and walked the length of it till he reached the airlock. He was greeted there by a soldier in strange uniform. Unlike the Imperial soldiers he wore not a green uniform, but a gray one. He had a strange kind of weapon slung around his shoulder.“Lieutenant Daemus Goradin, reporting for duty. This is the Battlestar Invictus, am I correct?”“Indeed you are sir” the soldier replied while checking his papers. “Goradin eh? We were expecting you. If you’ll follow me, the commander will want to see you.”The pair walked through alleys and bulkheads, all shaped similarly and lined with indicators leading to who-knows-where. Crewmen and officers were walking to and fro, never they encountered a quiet area. Whoever these men were, they did seem to work hard.After a last turn the soldier walked through a large hatch labeled ‘CIC’. Goradin walked after him and knew immediately that he had just stepped within the nervous centre of the ship. Operators were working on their stations, officers were relaying orders to their peers and consulting each other.The entire room was filled with activity. Although the tech here seemed less advanced and strange to him, it seemed nothing less from professional, like it was built with true purpose. This went against all he was told at the Naval Academy. Both men walked up to a two metre long plotting table, surrounded by seemingly two senior officers and a few junior ones. Their dark-grey uniforms, although straight and true, were pale to his in comparison to his blue and white uniform. Goardin snapped at attention:”lieutenant Daemus Goradin, Reporting for duty!”The most senior officer spoke up while barely looking up at him. “You sure did take your time getting up here Lieutenant. Enjoy your coffee?” he said somewhat mockingly.“Coffee, sir?”“Yes Lieutenant. I’d rather think you took a nice cup of coffee before you got here than coming in late because you’re reluctant to be here.”“I’m honored to be here sir….”“Let's not lie to each other mister Goradin.” the commander now took a more serious tone. “I’ve read your file, I know you came from a good position and you want to move on to a better one. Instead of a star position you’ve been posted here. I can understand your feelings, but that must not get in the way of our jobs. I expect you to follow my orders, should I issue them to you, as well as you answering truthfully to my questions. Especially the ones regarding the safety of this ship. Out there all we’ve got to rely on is each other, so I need to be able to count on you. Do I make myself clear?”“Yes sir!” Daemus replied. He could not believe what he was hearing.“Good. Sergeant Horvath here will show you to your quarters. Be sure to come back within the hour. I’d like to see that detailed mission briefing Ravensburg gave you. Dismissed.”Daemus snapped at attention again, grabbed his gear and followed the Sergeant who met him on the docks. Of all the welcomes he could have gotten, this was not the one he expected. Part of him was outraged that he was mocked, listed as being lazy and being firmly put in his place. An other part of him was impressed by the commander. He seemed to read him, knew his crew and what was happening around him. Though he was not sure how he felt about the man himself, he was somewhat relieved that he was not posted with some rag-tag group of half-witted rebel cowards. That was something at least…

“Didn’t you go a little hard on that young fellow?”“I don’t think so Howard. That guy is ambitious. He had star-worth grades coming from the smaller carriers. He was bucking for promotion, a place on the big and glorious ships. Instead he is posted here, on a ship and a crew that is a virtual unknown to the brass. He does not want to be here.”“Makes sense. But still, at the end of the day we may need him.”“And he will need us. That's the reason I went hard on him, besides a bit of fun teasing the newcomer. He needs to know who’s in charge, that we know what we’re doing and we are not some bumbling band of idiots. That way we’ll get him in line. Same as the new flight sergeant we’re getting. Have you read his file?”“Seems to be a rough type. Apparently he is a veteran of many battles and has seen a lot of action.”“Once he knows we command because we know what we are doing, and we’re not just here because of our influence, he will follow.”A short silence fell between the two men, both pondering.“XO, prep the ship for launch. Once everything is on board I want to leave as soon as possible.”“Aye sir.”

Flight sergeant Mercer Trune had stood just outside of the CIC, watching this situation unfold with slight amusement. He had arrived at the ship shortly after the lieutenant, so when he saw him put in his place he couldn’t resist to watch. The expression on the man’s face when he looked him in the eye was priceless. He chuckled a bit and stepped through the hatch towards the commanding officers. “Commander Price, Colonel Howard? Flight Sergeant Mercer Trune reporting for duty, Sir.” he said while saluting both officers.“At ease Sergeant. Enjoying the scene, were you?”“Well, yes a bit Colonel. I’ve served with LT Goradin before. Sometimes he needs to be put into place. When that happens I like to be there.”“Is your rivalry gonna be a problem, Sergeant?” Price asked with a stern voice.“Goradin and I know our jobs, sir. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”“Good. You are here to assess our fighters and air-group capabilities, so I have attached you to our active squadron. You will be trained in our older Mk II Vipers with an option to transition to the later Mk VII. During this cruise I expect you to take part in combat operations as if you were one of my pilots. During this period you will not be holding a leading rank until instructed otherwise. Do you have any questions about this?”“Not directly. But Air-group? Cruise? I thought this ship had space-faring craft.”“Both names are descended from an other time. Our vipers are space fighters capable of atmospheric flight. Your instructor will tell you more. Any information you can share with us on enemy strike craft capabilities would be greatly appreciated. If there is nothing else, one of my marines will escort you to your quarters. Your instructor will meet you there.”“Thank you sir. Looking forward to this voyage.” He saluted and walked off.

While the two imperials were unpacking, the rest of the crew were preparing the ship for launch. Everything that wasn’t yet fixed or stored was in the moments to come. The last checklists were run down, as with the last diagnostics to double check. Within the hour the ship was ready to cast off, with every man at his station.In the CIC Price observed the procedure and directed where needed, but as the men and women were well trained, this was hardly necessary. In the corner of his vision he could see the Imperial Lieutenant coming through the CIC hatch walking towards him.“Thanks for coming so soon mister Goradin, we were about to cast off. XO, status.”“The board is green. Ship reports ready for departure once the airlocks are secure.”“Alright. Signal the port we are ready to depart. Secure all airlocks and release docking clamps. Take the ship out to our jump point Howard.”“Aye sir” he replied while executing the orders. “Helm, give me a left lateral translation, slow speed. Get us away from the docking arm, and fire the Bow Thrusters.”

The moment he gave the orders, all docking clamps retracted, releasing the Invictus from the station. On the bow and stern thrusters fired to move the massive ship gently away from the space station. Moments later two massive Retro Boosters mounted in the bow roared to life, pushing the ship backwards slowly. Once clear of the station the ship rotated towards its first Jump Point before her main engines fired, propelling her away. The first step to her mission in the Babarus system.

Hello Gents,Thanks for the encouraging posts. So I've got another one for you.Again Caliger helped me out a lot in all of my chapters, so out here a thankyou to you!Enjoy!

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Chapter 6

The journey towards the first jump point would take a couple of days. From the moment the ship left the system of Port Maw, all the crew saw were readiness drills, combat drills, or any other kind a commanding officer could think up. The crew didn’t like it much. The officers on the other hand saw this as a golden opportunity to train the crew a bit more while they were still in relatively safe area. Not knowing what’s ahead, everyone could use all the training they could get. In addition to that, it would keep the crew occupied.

For all his experience, Mercer Trune had to agree with this. Going into combat within possibly two weeks, he had to get the hang of his new kite and fast. From the moment the ship departed Port Maw he had almost non stop briefings and classes on the Viper. Luckily his instructor seemed to be a man who knew what he was talking about.

As promised Mercer met his instructor at his cabin. The man looked as if he was somewhere past his fifties, his eyes looked older though. That he was a long time pilot was clear, but how he had stayed at this position for so long was a mystery to him. “You must be our new pilot! Mercer Trune right?”“Right you are Mr…..”“Major Irwin Burke, but most call me Bingo. I’m your instructor and CO”“Interesting name”“It's just a callsign. You will get one in time. Put your stuff in your cabin if you haven't already and follow me. I’d like to start your training as soon as possible.”“Expecting trouble Major?”“Word is we’re going into battle within two weeks, so yeah you could say that.” the old man answered while they both turned and walked the corridors. “Have they showed you your plane yet?”“No sir, no time yet.”“Than we’ll do that first” Major Burke said while ducking through the bulkhead leading to the main hangar deck. The entire deck was in motion. Hangar crews were giving maintenance to the spacecraft while others were preparing the fighters to be moved towards the flight pods. Small carts were driving to and from their respective destinations. And despite the maze of motion, Irwin Burke didn’t seem to have any difficulty finding his way without someone driving over his toes.Somewhere halfway in the middle of the bay stood a few small fighters coloured in white with red-bands. Though he was not familiar with the type, Trune could see that the white vessels were of an older type than the grey and sleeker ones, which were more numerous in the hangar. All were significantly smaller than his trusty old Fury, a mere 9 meters, which gave him serious doubts.“Is that my plane? Isn’t it a bit small”“Don’t let its size fool ya. This ship is fast, very manoeuvrable and has a nasty bite. Armed with two mass drivers and up to 8 missiles, this ship can turn very powerful ships of the line into burning hulks. Once you’ve flown this bird to its limit you’ll see what it can do. You’ve read the plane’s manual and operations?”“Yes I have.”“Good, get in your flight-suit. You’re going up in an hour.”

Although the CIC always was a centre of activity, at the moment everything was relatively quiet. The the lower crewmen went on with their tasks while senior staff was monitoring exercises and navigation duties.All radio traffic of the air-group exercises was routed to the speakers in the room, so all inside could listen in to all the chit-chat which was cast into the void. Some of it was more comedy than anything else. “Sounds like someone is enjoying himself.”“You know our fighter boys, always witty and on the line. Let them have this one, they’ve deserved it.”“Maybe you’re right John, but our boys should be sharp while out there. By the way, our new Flight Sergeant is up for his first flight right about now.”“That should be something to listen to.” Goradin said to no-one in particular.“Why is that?”“I’ve served with Mercer on a few occasions. When he’s struggling his language becomes less civilized, if you catch my meaning.”

Meanwhile Mercer Trune was strapped in his new plane and being loaded in the launch tube for the first time. Major ‘Bingo’ Burke had given him a personal introduction in the operation of the small craft and gave another lecture on the launch procedure. On the first glance this new fighter was simple and the controls didn’t differ much from his Fury. Now he would find out how this bucket would fly.The tube launcher came in on radio:“This is shooter, I have control standby….. Viper 114 clear forward” loading completed and a massive door closed behind him, sealing him away from the hangar bay. All he could see now was a thick airlock door leading to the long tunnel ahead to the void, and the launch-tube control cabin to his right.“Navcon green, Interval check” Trune checked the instruments and signalled the controller. The magnetic catapult came back and hooked his plane up with a soft thump while the outer door opened, sucking the remaining air away.“Magcat ready, thrust positive and good luck.” With those words the shooter pressed a button which launched the fighter out the launch tube with tremendous speed. Within seconds the little fighter emerged outside the huge battlestar, now flying on his own.

Following the instructions of the Major, Mercer immediately throttled up and tried to stabilise his fighter. Instead he over corrected and started bouncing all over the place. His angry cursing and swearing was there for everyone to hear. In the CIC operators were listening over the speakers to the rapid fire of bad language. Here and there a few smiles and badly camouflaged grins emerged on various faces. Even the senior officers had a hard time keeping a straight face. Lieutenant Goradin did no such effort to hide his amusement.“I think I know what you mean Daemus” Howard said with barely a straight face.

Major Burke was flying in the void together with Mercer to teach his new “Nugget” how to fly.“Easy on the stick Sergeant! Easy, easy, Holy Frack!” Burke sweared while he had to evade. His Nugget came barrelling down straight towards him. “Nugget! Small movements, use small movements and go easy on the throttle!”“This damned bucket is all over the place. Can’t get the bloody thing straight, and don’t call me Nugget!”“Until you master your plane I call you whatever I want. You are way too enthusiastic with the controls. You are not flying a Fury, you are flying a Viper. So fly like one!”It took some effort, but after about thirty or so seconds, he managed to straighten the craft out, more or less. “Be careful nugget. Your Viper can turn end on end in 0.34 seconds. Keep that in mind when you fly or you’ll be hosed out of your cockpit by the chief of the deck. Lets try a few simple circuits to let you get the hang of it. Keep on my 4. Follow me.”Both planes took off and started their racetrack pattern. Now this nugget got his plane under control, things went better. Over time he became more confident flying it and stopped bobbing up and down around him. After a few touch and go’s on the port flightpod, the man's status as a veteran pilot came forward. Though this sense of progress was short to live. Something was off so ‘Bingo’ Burke turned his craft around and watched his rear. At first sight nothing special was around, save for a small asteroid field some distance away. But after a little while it was clear that there was something out there.“Invictus-Bingo, I’ve got contacts inside the asteroid field, how copy over.”“Copy that Bingo, we’re getting faint contacts here. Get your flight home, alert Vipers on the way.”“Roger Invictus, Bingo RTB. Okay Nugget, we’ve got Bogeys on our tail. Reinforcements are coming but we’ve got orders to land ASAP so firewall the throttle!”

In the CIC everyone was working hard to get to action stations while trying to identify the unknown craft. Though none of the Battlestar crew had any idea of the classes and weaponry in the sector.“Commander, if I may?” Goradin asked while gesturing towards the sensor operators. Price nodded.“Crewman, can you get me a visual on those contacts?” After flipping a few switches and button presses three ships emerged on the screen.“Commander, these ships appear to be a Havoc Class Merchant raider escorted by two Claymore Class Corvettes, followed by strike craft. Possibly Furies and Faustus interceptors. I advise prioritising the Havoc first as it is better armed.”“What are the weapons on those ships?”“The havoc has Plasma based weapons. Those can cause severe damage to an unshielded ship this size. The Claymores have a single railgun, similar to your calibre, and Point defence guns.”“We have more firepower than them combined. Then why would they attack us?”“They may think we are a cargo hauler Howard. Aside from a few people, no-one here has ever seen a Battlestar. We could use this to our advantage.”

The three ships closed in rapidly, eager to claim their loot. This eagerness would prove to be costly. All main gun turrets rose from their nests and rotated to face the attackers, ready to fire at a moment's notice. Vipers were intercepting the few strike craft the pirates had, while the Strike Vipers were forming up and preparing their own counter-attack. The Pirate Captains barely had the time to realise their mistake. When they were too close to run, a huge wall of fire rose up and sped towards them impacting on their Void Shields. The Corvettes started returning fire while trying to outflank the Battlestar. Some of their shots hit home, absorbed by the armour, while others bounced off the angled sections. The Havoc Raider had to close in further for it to be able to return fire. All this time the small ship had the full attention of the battlestar’s entire broadside, putting significant stress on the fragile Shield generator. It would not take long for the shields to fail and the shells to start impacting the hull.

The weak armour of the raider was no match for the powerful broadside of the battlestar. Shells penetrated the outer hull and bounced around on the inside, wreaking havoc to the ships internals. A direct hit to a portside battery caused the entire compartment to erupt in a violent explosion. Everyone inside was either blown to the bulkheads or sucked into the void. Seconds later multiple shells hit the engine bay, setting the ship adrift.

Meanwhile fighters from both sides were turning round each other in a massive furball. Las-blasts were answered with Mass-Driver shells and missiles, complemented by the countless FLAK batteries firing from the Invictus. Dozen Fury Fighters fought a desperate battle, but they were completely overwhelmed by the numbers of fighters thrown at them. If they managed to shake off one pursuer, another would take his place in moments. This was emphasised with the vibrations and TAK-TAK-TAK sound of impacting shells. In a last ditch attempt to gain a kill one of the Furies broke off and burned at a ramming course with one of the vipers. At the last moment the viper shot to the side, letting the desperate fighter through. In the blind fury the fighter wandered straight into the Flak-barrier. A single FLAK shell penetrated the hull of the stricken fighter before exploding inside, shredding any and all equipment. Support-beams were broken, panels blown out and reactors breached. The explosion that resulted was larger than any colonial ever thought possible for the size of the spacecraft. Only warped chunks of wing and nose were left when the fire dissipated. The rest of the pirate fighters rested a similar fate. Fight or Flee, it didn’t matter. At the end of the battle, the result would be the same.

With the Havoc out of the fight, and every Pirate fighter fighting for a minute of extra life, the Claymores were on their own. The closest one was focused down by the Invictus herself while the other was attacked by at least 40 strike vipers. Both ships fired all their defence guns in an attempt to deflect the attack. All they did was delaying the inevitable. Invictus battered the shield bubble of its target, whittling it away. Knowing what was about to happen, the Corvette turned and burned away at flank speed. By doing so it showed the now exposed engines to its attacker. The ship did outrun Invictus, but its shells it did not. In the next moments the engine bay took heavy damage. Fires erupted out of the hull, trailing lazily out of its host.

AP shell no 3789 was just loaded in the breach of Dorsal turret 5’s dual cannons. Slowly the turret adjusted its aim and fired both cannons. 3789 blasted out of the barrel, leaving a meters long muzzle flash behind. Silently ripping through the void, the rear of its target doubled in size with every split-second. With untold violence the shell ripped through the weak armour between the two corvette engines, blasting and bouncing through the engine bay it ripped cables, destroyed equipment and ruptured plasma-lines to finally impact the containment magnets of the main reactor.Inside the stricken ship, alarms started blaring and warning lights lit up. All it did though was strike more fear into its crew. For them, it did not take long.

With the reactor's containment gone, the plasma inside ran rampant. Expanding and expanding while slowly melting through the reactor shielding. One of the rogue enginseers looked with sheer horror at the events. Once the plasma broke free, he was evaporated in an instant. He never felt what hit him.The plasma raged towards filled capacitors. The result of the two in contact was spectacular. First the engines flickered and extinguished. Seconds later the engine bay exploded violently, the fire engulfing the entire ship. The only thing to emerge was the ship’s armoured prow, blasted away by the explosion. The Prow drifted away for a few seconds, only to impact a nearby asteroid.

The remaining corvette suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Strike Vipers. It too suffered an explosive reactor breach. Any strike craft with anti-ship ordnance left fired it at the drifting Havoc, ending the engagement. All of this took just under 20 minutes.

“Ok gentlemen, lets wrap this up, we’ve wasted enough time here. XO, recover fighters. Jump Prep!”The orders were barely given or the crew had already started carrying them out. Within minutes the last fighter was aboard.“FTL?” - “Go!”“Sublight?” - “Go!”

A jump? Already? The commander truly is a hardass to risk Warp Jumps this early! The Imperial Lieutenant didn’t like this one bit. Although he tried, he could not hide his nervous and terrified emotions. To say that Warp Travel is dangerous would be a tremendous understatement! Not to mention he hadn’t seen any sign of a navigator aboard! “Emperor save us” he thought and started mumbling a prayer in High Gothic: ”Deus omnium Imperator, ut salvet nos de periculis inane...”

“Engineering?” - “Go!”“Flight Pods?” - “Go!”“Commander Price, the board is green. Ship reports ready for jump sir!”“Very well, start the clock!”The Jump operator at his station inserted the Jump Key in the console and started a countdown.“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5”

The moment the operator turned the key, Goradin felt an intense nausea rise to his throat. The walls seemed to come at him while he felt as if he was shrinking. On the outside one could see the engines die out just before a bright flash traveled from the bow to stern. After that the ship was gone, like it was never there. All of this happened within a fraction of a second…..

Commander Widmann paced around in his cabin, its window overlooking the bow of the ship. He had been waiting for days already with his Escort squadrons. Waiting for the word to set off. His ships had already taken position around the cargo ships in convoy. His Sword class frigate, the Falcon, took point in the formation. They were flanked by two Firestorm Frigates, the Vigel and Achilles. The formation was closed by the last Sword frigate, the Hydra.

The formation was ready to go for two days already. He could’ve set off already, were it not for his original backup being rerouted somewhere else. Instead he was to be reinforced at some outsider ship. And now they would have to wait for it while they should have been under way! Whoever gave this outrageous order only the emperor knows. But if he had his way he would have his head!There was nothing to be done about it now.A knocking sound came from his door. “Enter”. His second in command, Lieutenant Konig entered the room. “You asked for status reports, commander?”“Yes, any sign of the Outsider?”“Nothing yet. Since the Astropath signal yesterday we’ve heard nothing. Our Auspex arrays do not detect anything new in the vicinity either.”“I thought as much. Are our ships ready?”“In position and ready to go.”“Good, I grow tired of waiting. If by dawn this Outsider has not arrived I intend to depart with the force we have. Mourndark is waiting. If we are late it will be on my head! I will not have it!”“Shall I give the order, Sir?”“If we are still on our own in three hours. We’ll be under way soon enough.”

Barely had he spoken those words when his cabin was lit by a blinding flash.

The bright flash lit up the void, filling the once empty space with a three kilometers worth of warship.The ships nearby were taken by surprise and scattered like leaves in the wind, taking defensive positions.“Jump 239 complete. Just under 2k drift. Right where we’re supposed to be sir.”“Very well Nav officer. Mister Goradin, are you ok? You look a little green.”The young man didn’t answer. It looked like he had trouble keeping his lunch from exiting through his mouth.“Don’t worry” XO Howard replied, “You should’ve seen the old man on his first jump. That was a sight to see…”“If I remember correctly you didn’t look peachy either Mark.”

What is going on here? Why aren’t we in the Warp? Why are there no horrors lurking just outside the hull? While all these questions were raging through his mind, Goradin looked over his shoulder towards the Navigation screen. The display blinked, and showed their current position with new planetary orbits and constellations. He didn't believe it, but it was true. They had arrived safely within seconds. How this was possible he did not know. For now he just decided to go with it.

“Are jumps always this easy?”“No jumps are ever easy Lieutenant” Howard replied, “we have to calculate each jump extensively. Deviating by just a few degrees and we could end up smack-dead in the middle of a sun. Some poor bastard in a raptor made that mistake once. He jumped and ended up into some chunk of rock floating off Arilon.”“That woke people up back at Fleet HQ.”“Why these questions, Goradin? Doesn’t your Navy travel in a similar way?”“Far from it to be honest. We are bound to traveling through the realm of the Immaterium.”“Immaterium?”“Imagine the worst possible hellish realm filled with ancient creatures hungering for your soul scratching at the hull. Try, if you can, to imagine that and you have a happy view of what you have to face when reaching your destination. Every voidsman fears Warp travel, the sane ones anyway.”

A short silence fell over the men, only to be broken by the static of incoming transmissions.“Unknown Vessel, Identify yourself immediately!”“This is commander Price of the BS Invictus 92nd Battlegroup here to reinforce 212 and 327, Alpha and Bravo, squadrons. Sending ID codes now” Price said while gesturing to the Comms specialist.

“Check those codes!” Widmann Barked.“They’re authentic sir!”“Check them again!” the man barked even louder.The boy working the stations, he could only be described as a boy, worked the controls again, franticly trying to see any fault or trace of deception. He could find none. “The Cogitators confirm it, the codes are authentic.”“I agree sir.” Lieutenant Konig replied “The codes are sound. They are our reinforcements.”Looking out of the bridge windows they could see the strange warship slowly glide towards the formation, taking position above the center formation. Strange tiny craft emerged from the sides of is large extenders, which one could only guess to be launch bays of some sort. When the ship glided past at just 500 meters distance the bridge crew could see this warship carried at least 8 turrets on its dorsal side. The broadsides mounted more large calibre turrets, while large parts of the side was covered with smaller guns. Probably defence guns of some sort. The ship was impressive to see to say the least. Maybe Fleet command didn’t hurt them as much as he originally thought.“Stand down from Battlestations.”Though the so called battlestar was upside down, it rotated with a speed comparable to an escort to face the same way as the rest of the formation.It didn’t take long for the formation to be closed. Finally the convoy was ready to depart. After a series of light signals, all engines lit up. Plasma blasts erupted from the engines and slowly but surely, the convoy gained speed. Finally under way to deliver much needed supplies to Admiral Mourndarks forces.

Hello ladies and gents,It has been a while, but here is the next chapter of Invictus' story.Enjoy!------

Chapter 8

During the next eleven days the convoy repelled multiple pirate raids. Somehow the Pirate lords got wind of the convoy, but the attempts to stop and raid it had little result. Long before the attacks were carried out, the Viper patrols and sensor systems of the escort fleet had already seen the raiders coming. All it achieved was thinning the pirate fleet numbers while they barely delayed the resupply fleet. With the combined effort of the imperial escorts and Invictus they managed to destroy four frigates and multiple Cobra Destroyers. Apparently the pirates didn’t count on a tough escort with swarms of strike craft bearing down on them like a swarm of angry bees.When the convoy was not in combat, the Invictus ran drill after drill while keeping up patrols. Mainly because of this. Commander Widmann came to see the value of the Battlestar and found respect for its commander. With Invictus controlling the space around, the imperial escorts were free to move as they saw fit, increasing their options tenfold.When the convoy arrived at the edge of the system, all of the Invictus’ crew had a sight to behold.Far in the distance, behind dust clouds and debris one could see the immense concert of flashes and explosions of a battle being waged. Every now and then, a keen eye could make out the ships silhouettes before disappearing again. Closer to the lines there were ships flying off and on towards their objectives.On the staging ground behind the lines there were multiple ships waiting for their precious supplies. Though most ships were massive in size, they drifted with majestic grace towards the convoy.Now however came the stage where the resupply fleet was at its most vulnerable.

In the CIC both senior officers were busy leading patrols and keeping the resupply operation covered.The Invictus had positioned herself on the flank while the other escorts surrounded the other directions. Though no enemy was present at the time, every man was at his station and all guns were raised from their nests.“I don’t like sitting around like this John.” Colonel Howard remarked. “We’re a sitting duck out here.”“We are way behind the frontlines Colonel.” “Are we? We have at least half a dozen ships of the line stationery out there with buckets of ammo strapped to their hull. All it takes is one torpedo, one lucky shot to get through and the ship lights up like a firework show!”“Why do you think we have so many Vipers patrolling out there? Take it easy Howard. If anyone is out there we’ll find them before they get too close.”“Have we received our orders yet?” Lieutenant Goradin stepped up to the conn while buttoning up his collar. “Not yet. The last we’ve heard was two days ago, us covering the resupply operation. Haven’t heard from him since.” XO Howard answered.“It shouldn’t take too much longer. Mourndark isn’t one to let ships just sit around while they could do something useful. Though I must say he doesn’t really value carriers. He values armour and cannons over strike craft. In his eyes carriers are more of a burden than an asset.”“Knowing this, where would he station us?” Price asked while pulling out the situation map.“We would never be placed in the main fleet. No offence but in his eyes this ship is still a wildcard. My guess would be either the Rear guard or the Vanguard.” Goradin noted while pointing at the respective positions on the map.“We would be ordered to either cover the rear, or scout on ahead of the main fleet. In that case we’d be looking for mines, traps, any sign of offensives and the sort.”

“As long as we stay out of those asteroid fields we should be ok. DRADIS is useless in there.”“What do you mean?”“With so much stuff flying about in those fields the system can’t see the difference between a spacecraft and an asteroid. Besides, even if it could see ships, the only thing the bad guy has to do is hide behind one of those rocks and we’d never know. The same goes for our fighters, so if we go in there we have to rely on the Mk1 Eyeball. Our IR sensors may spot something, but the enemy can hide from that as well.”“If we can’t go in we have to make the other guy come out.”“Indeed Daemus. We have to lure them out to be precise.”

In the past twelve days Mercer Trune had been flying almost non-stop. The classes about Viper tactics and flying the actual patrols next to his training were exhausting. His instructor set the bar very high and kept pushing him further and harder. Somehow he wondered how some imperial squadrons would look and function if men like Bingo trained the men. He never raised his voice unless absolutely necessary, always remained calm and didn’t scold you if you made a mistake, save for a grave one. But if you failed to meet his expectations he didn’t shout or scream like most Imperial taining officers. He just looked you in the eye with utter disappointment, which in its own right was worse than the former.In any case, although the training was exhausting, he got a better feeling for his Viper the longer he flew it and grew to like it. He still prefered his Fury over the tiny craft, but he began to see its charm. The first few flights he still struggled to control the craft just after launch and needed a minute to straighten out. This was of course coupled with his signature hurricane of bad language which earned him the nickname “Storm”. Though he found this habit strange he did prefer this to ‘Nugget’, which was still his first nickname. Even though the difference of culture and uniform separated him from the other pilots, he was treated with respect. The others pulled a chair over and asked him to join in off-duty card games and the occasional drinks while sharing stories. Though this ship has hardly seen combat outside of this sector, a lot of pilots were veterans of some hostile action.The oldest veteran appeared to be his instructor. According to the pilots Bingo was a decorated veteran of what they called ‘The First Cylon War’, although he rarely wore his medals. He was offered promotions multiple times, but he wanted to keep flying so he declined them all. So after all this time he still flies the same bird he flew all those years ago. Regardless of the stories told, every time the name ‘Bingo’ came across the table it was soon followed with: “Pay attention to what that old man says. It may save your life one day.” And that he did.For Mercer the time for training was over. The ship was now in an active war zone so it needed every pilot and plane that could fly. So there he was, flying a Combat Patrol near the resupply area as Bingo’s wingman. He felt sharp and ready to go. Bingo was less excited and held him back a bit. Nevertheless from the moment his Viper blasted out of the launch tube, Mercer kept his finger close to the Master Arm button. He wanted to be ready to punch in a moments notice. He would get his wish soon enough….

The radio within his Viper soon cracked to life. A distorted voice sounded through his helmet:“Invictus to all Vipers. Emergency recall. Three enemy contacts bearing 278 carum 064. Regroup at point Charlie. Orders are to Engage and Destroy all hostiles. Acknowledge on same frequency.”An attack? Now? “Copy Invictus. You got that message Storm?”“Copy that Bingo. Ready to go on your command.”“Return to point Charlie, all fighters will regroup on us. We will cover the strikers which come behind us. Don’t worry, we’ll get some shots in.”

Out of his canopy he could see the massive hulk of Invictus come about and move itself between the resupply fleet and the attacking force. At the same time dozens of fighters and strike craft took up formation on his wing while others were shot out of their launch tubes. Pretty soon the formation consisted of numerous fighters and strike craft, all loaded for bear. From the front the formation looked like a big honeycomb while from the side it looked like a giant wedge. Bingo was in command and lead the formation towards its respective target. Moments later Mercer saw huge balls of light speeding towards the enemy. Looking down to his left he could see the entire back of Invictus light up with cannon fire. Each shell was accelerated with such violence that the rear of it lit up like a fireball.Nearby Firestorm and Sword frigate squadrons reformed their formations, ready to support the Fighter assault.

“All Vipers, Fence in!” Bingo called in through his radio. Following this order all lights were extinguished and weapons were armed.Every fighter activated and locked its missiles on the incoming raiders, awaiting the command to fire. Mercer had locked his missiles and flipped the launch cover on his control stick with his thumb. He could hear the missile growling in his headset, ready to go.The call came: “Launch missiles!”He pressed the button on his control stick, punching two missiles off to speed towards their targets moments later. Every fighter launched two missiles at their respective targets, forming almost a cloud of them speeding away. Seconds later the formation broke off to make room for the strikers. While looking through the side of his cockpit, Mercer could see the impacts of what seemed to be dozens of missiles. Some were intercepted by the defence guns, but more than enough went through and severely damaged the pirate vessels.Before the missiles hit, the enemy vessels managed to fire off a spread of torpedoes now speeding towards the imperial supply vessels.

Price had been watching the battle unfold from the CIC. when the call came in of inbound torpedoes, he immediately scrambled defence fighters to intercept. Invictus and nearby frigates were already in a good position to defend with its FLAK batteries and take any hits necessary. With the viper squadrons making quick work of the pirate vessels, he had ordered his batteries to focus on incoming ordnance only. If any torpedo got through, Invictus could take the hit, the transports couldn’t.“New Contacts! Two vessels bearing 303 long range.”“Can you identify them Goradin?”“They appear to be Idolator frigates. They have long range Lances. I advise taking them out fast. If they fire on the unprotected transports...”“It gets real messy, understood. XO, direct the Blacksharks to intercept and destroy. They are cleared to engage at will.”“Aye sir!” Howard replied before relaying the order.

In the back of the painted black two-seat Strike Viper, the Weapons Systems Officer was franticly working his targeting systems and Jamming equipment. Though the pressure was high, both he and his pilot were as calm as could be. Every man in the Blacksharks was the same, like a squadron signature. There was a reason why they were the elite. Not everyone was cut out to be like them, to handle nuclear weapons like they do. So whenever a hard job needed doing, they were the ones to be called.

Now his squadron of black strikers was flying towards their target, all readying to jam every sensor and weapons system in the nearby area in an attempt to blind the enemy.“Target in sight, locking on” the officer said to his pilot.“Copy that Wizzo. How long till in range?”“30 seconds. Music on?”“Music on!” All jammers jumped on and blinded any sensor in range. If any point defence gun had a shooting solution, they had lost it now. Without reliable weapons lock, the guns blasted into the void hoping to hit something.A calm voice sounded through the wireless: “Start your attack run.”

The nearby Firestorm squadron fired their lances at the incoming pirate frigates in anticipation of the strikers attack. At least two frigates fired in rapid succession. Their lance blasts impacted the void shields of the red ships, putting strain on the shield generator.

Dozens of tailless shark-mouthed StrikeVipers raced towards their targets and shot off their nuclear warheads without mercy. Once the missiles left the rail the vipers turned and got out of range. Though at this range they could take the blast, they preferred not to take any chances. Besides, the missiles with their advanced tracking systems didn’t need any supporting guidance.Like hawks diving on their prey the missiles blasted through the point defence barrier and impacted the idolators Void shields. The resulting blast was tremendous, overloading the void-shield generator, knocking out several systems and dazzling the crew. The EMP left behind rendered the idolators blind for a while.“Targets hit and damaged”“They’re still alive and mobile. Second wave, commence attack”

The idolators had survived the first attack, but they wouldn’t survive the second wave. With their void-shields down they were an easy target for the nuclear warheads carried by the attackers and the lances of the distant Firestorm frigates. All that would remain was irradiated and glowing hot debris.

“Commander, Viper flights confirm the destruction of enemy vessels. Nothing left but wreckage”“Very well. Signal Major Burke to get his planes back on board and leave a CAP. Let Mourndark know the indolators have been dealt with. Signal nearby ships to steer clear of the wrecks. Unexploded ammo may still go off.”Moments after the message was sent, the comms specialist called out the answer.“Sir, we’ve got a reply from Mourndark, but it’s coded. I need the decryption key.”

Deamus Goradin tore his eyes away from the DRADIS screen. “Commander, with your permission. I think I may be of help.”Price nodded and ordered the comms specialist to stand aside and allowed Goradin to take his seat.“We have many security codes for various degrees of rank and threats. Usually I don’t have this high clearance, but since I am the highest ranking officer on this ship….” he paused and started typing.“As this would likely be deployment orders, the code would likely be Beta-sigma or beta-centouri….. Got it!”As he typed in the latter code the message started to decrypt.“Nice work. Lets see what the Admiral has to say.”

++++++++Priority message security code Beta-Centouri

From: Strategic Fleet Command Babarus Fleet, Admiral Mourndark.

To: Commander Price, Battlestar Invictus.

Regarding: Operational orders

-----Message begins:----Actions defending resupply fleet well done and appreciated.When Rear-Guard resupply operation complete, take station at the Rear-Guard Fleet.Cover the angles from flanking attacks.Contact Read-Admiral McCallun for deployment details.

Good hunting,

The Emperor protects.

----Message ends----++++++++

Colonel Howard was the first to comment. “Was about time we got our orders. Took em long enough.”“True, but now at least we know what the fleet expects of us. What is the status of the resupply op?”“About two hours left, providing we don’t have any issues.” Deamus read of his clipboard.“Good. Contact the Rear-Admiral. Let him know when we’ll be ready. What are our losses up till now? Howard?”“Flight ops has just begun recovering our craft. We have 20 planes damaged of which 9 severely. No losses yet, but we’ll have a complete list once everyone is aboard.”“Very well. Keep me informed. Navigator, get me all the info on the outskirts of the system you can get.”“Working on it sir!” the young man answered with a frustrated undertone. He seemed to struggle with the console. Errors and garbled data kept appearing on the screen.Price and Howard walked up to the console. “Specialist, what is going on?”“I don’t know, sir. Hang on…” he continued typing, trying to find what was going on when suddenly the screen lighted up like a lightbulb and shut down in a rain of sparks. Quickly he scrambled to get a diagnostic tool and started running tests. After a few moments he emerged from the console.

“Power surge energized the board. Systems have been twitchy ever since the Cylons attacked the colonies. Maybe they had infiltrated our computer before we broke the network.”“Mr Tandor, this is more than a twitch.” and Price walked back to the Chart table.“The Commander is right. I don’t care if you have to go through this program line by line. Fix it.”

“Excuse me Colonel?”“You heard me…”“Sir! I’m running every diagnostic we’ve got. Checking each line of code could take days.”“I am not interested in excuses. Fix it!”

“It is not an excuse, SIR! It’s a Fracking FACT!” he emphasized the last word with a loud kick to the console. The CIC fell silent and all eyes were turned on him.

Price approached Tandor again ”Mr Tandor, Pull yourself together.” he said with a calm voice.“Yes sir. Sorry sir.” with that said he returned to the console and began the work. Price again walked back to the charting table where Colonel Howard was waiting for him.

“What the hell is his problem?”

“Months on the run and what do we have to show for it? Casualties, new battles, deteriorating conditions. He is not the first. I’ve witnessed a few arguments in the mess. The men are getting on edge.”

“This crew needs a rest.”

“It’s finally hitting them Mark. Their old lives are gone. The only thing we have to look forward to is this.”

Goradin witnessed this happening from the sidelines. Strange as it may be, he did not know how to react or what to think of this. To have this happen on a ship of war in a warzone was generally seen as an outrage. Maybe he had to ask the commander for an explanation. In any case, it didn’t leave a good impression. When he walked out to his cabin at the end of his shift he started to think this over.

In the meantime Major Burke had sent the entire Viper wing back to Invictus as he and his flight of four took the first CAP. “Not that I am not honored to sit in my Cockpit for the next three hours, but why did you chose me?” Mercer asked.

“Take a guess?”

“Cause the silence before the Storm!” Answered Juke in No4 while laughing.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Well it ain’t exactly a secret what you said during your training flights. Very entertaining if I say so myself. I wondered what it would look like up close!”

“Be careful what you wish for No4. You might just get exactly that!” a few started chuckling before Bingo got back on the radio.

As he turned, the others followed in a more or less perfect V formation.

In the next two hours the resupply operation went on as planned with no further attacks. In the last hour of the patrol, Mercer could see the lumbering Battlestar gliding slowly towards its new posting in the distance. The Rear guard. DRADIS was already showing the Gothic class cruiser Sword Of Orion at the edge of the system, waiting for them to arrive. Though he had flown close by ships twice the size of the Orion, it still was an impressive sight to behold. Before setting down on the flight deck he might just sneak in a close Fly-By. Maybe not the brightest of ideas, but it was tempting….By the time he set his skids on the deck, the Invictus had joined up with the Rear-Admiral and was well under way to its new posting.

Caliger asked me to review your writing. I know only that Cylons are robots, and humans are Earth Colonists, and that the Sm's Xyphon fighter was based on the Viper, and its a rerun of an old TV show. I have no idea how strong or how big their ships are, how well trained their soldiers nor how their defenses work.

A few pointers: Always explain in at least a little detail what systems are. DRADIS for example, I had no idea what it was. It could be an archive of starmaps, a computer network or sensors, until Caliger told me its sensors.Also, do not the colonists seek Earth? I imagine it would be a topic that would come up very soon and I imagine they could know latin and know that Terra was Earth.I'm also not sure they would nickname a foe "red daggers" but instead maybe "Hostile threat Crimson" or something more military sounding.